New Release – RED ZEPHYR – From Chaos To Chrome

I stuck this in the CD tray with a little trepidation… it features Chris White on bass, who once wrote for the North Wales Pioneer and so cruelly slayed my band 4Q for being totally lacking in the music and song writing department in 1987 (all totally true), and he was later in cheese rockers Burn in the early 2000’s (also true).
The CD was thrust in my palm last weekend and came highly acclaimed by Colwyn Bay rock promoter Lloydy. We should’ve played it there and then, for it would’ve been befitting the meal we had in Tim Griff’s decked out back garden. Hot sunshine, great company, cool beers, a Hare Krischna recipe curry and a bit of Red Zephyr, particularly the sunshine feel to Hangman. We however opted for the bluesy-rock mix CD I did for Tim’s birthday party about 5 years ago, skillfully titled Tim004.

In contrast, I’m listening to it now instead, it’s pissing it down on Bank Holiday Monday, but ‘From Chaos To Chrome’ does add a bit of warmth to proceedings. Falling into that pit called Rock ‘n’ Roll, you’ll find Red Zephyr inoffensive, but gutsy enough to get your head nodding, with a good solid backline, nice guitar work and vocalist Arthur Holden sounding somewhere between Robert Plant and Axl Rose (without being a wanker). In fact there is a lot of Zeppelin influence here, which ain’t a bad thing, Glory Be is a track where they do let rip, and sounds ace at high volume. You’ll find Crazy Noise as a single to download on iTunes, and it has all the hallmarks you’d expect from a band on the pub circuit, that’s not a put down, just a fact – kind of AC/DC – Saxon. Right words in the right place, correct licks in the correct place.Growing Up is a jewel, with nice use of a hammond organ sound and you could imagine messrs Plant and Page getting stoned and thrashing this one out… Nice…